Purcell Suite Z770

[rdtennent]

This suite is incomplete in a manuscript. Thurston Dart, in his role as editor for the relevant volume of the Purcell Society series, completed the Suite by filling in the inner parts or adapting Purcell material from other sources. He died in 1971. The Purcell Society volume was published in 1959. I've prepared an arrangement for recorders. Is it
distributable without permission?

Bob T.

[Carolus]

In a word: No. Completions of fragmentary works do not fall under any reasonable definition of the "urtext" rule because they certainly contain original creative material added by the author of the completion - Dart in this case. The completion will be under copyright in Canada and other 50-pma nations until 2022. The 1959 publication (vol.31?) appears to have been renewed by the estate of Thurston Dart right on time, so it is also under copyright in the USA (which was the only place where it could have been free due to failure to renew). The Dart estate's lawyers appear to have been very astute about renewing everything on time. There's quite a long list of things in the copyright office's online DB.

In order for a new arrangement to be eligible for posting here, you would need to either arrange only the fragments, or make your own completion from other Purcell works, adding your own inner parts, etc. You can't use anything added by Dart himself. Other Purcell works inserted by Dart might be OK, though you could even have problems with these as it could be argued that Dart's interpolations constitute an "original compilation."

[rdtennent]

A published collection of Purcell works arranged for recorders has the relevant movements, including the Dart completions, so either they're out of bounds or they managed to get permission. The volume as a whole and the Suite in particulat are copyright Novello. Would the current owners of the Novello titles or the Dart estate be the appropriate target of a permission request?

[Carolus]

I think the Dart estate would be the place to go. As I understand it the collected works volume was actually printed by Stainer and Bell. Novello is now owned by Music Sales as Chester/Novello. They may have swallowed Stainer and Bell by now as well!

[rdtennent]

I sent a permission request to musicsales.co.uk but have so far heard nothing. In the meantime I've tracked down the versions that Purcell used subsequently and composed new inner parts for the Bourée. So I now have a Dart-free suite ready to upload. But I'll wait another couple of weeks to see if I get permission and under what conditions.
I don't think the "original compilation" issue is relevant. Dart claimed in the Critical Notes that the sequence of dances was what Purcell intended, so it can hardly be considered Dart's creative contribution.

Bob T.